Time to clean out the aggregator —
ITEM: District of Columbia police commenced — and promptly abandoned — their “papers please” vehicular checkpoint system in certain high-crime neighborhoods. I explained why the regime is patently unconstitutional in this post.
ITEM: President Bush has announced that General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during much of the Iraq War, will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award. Among his other “achievements” apart from Iraq, Pace mocked atheists, unwaveringly defended Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and despicably dismissed all gays as “immoral.”
ITEM: The Alberta Human Rights Commission, most recently in the news for its horrific harassment of publisher Ezra Lavant for having reprinted the Muhammad cartoons, has ordered an anti-gay pastor and his Christian advocacy group to pay $5,000 in damages after printing an anti-gay letter in an Alberta newspaper. Stephen Boisson and the Concerned Christian Coalition “must stop publishing in all forms of media any ‘disparaging remarks’ about homosexuals.” The defendants plan to appeal this nullification of their natural right to free speech to a bona fide Canadian court. My previous post here; Ezra Lavant comments here.
ITEM: Speaking of other countries and human rights, Robert Mugabe has unsurprisingly dropped the last pretenses of respecting election results and has simply declared himself dictator of Zimbabwe. He has also arrested (yet again) his principal opponent and 10 other members of the opposition party. Most recent post here.
ITEM: Taser International has lost its first lawsuit alleging that their device contributed to a wrongful death. The verdict was based on the “failure to warn” prong of product liability law (i.e., Taser did not adequately educate the police on how to use the device properly). So long as the Taser is (improperly) viewed as anything than a substitute for the use of a firearm, such lawsuits, and such verdicts, will recur. Flagship post here.
ITEM: Two international gay rights groups have finally won “consultative status” at the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. Their quest for such access had been repeatedly blocked by a coalition of intolerant Islamic regimes, joined by China’s Communists and Russia’s kleptocrats. Previous posts here.
ITEM: Back at home, meanwhile, Democratic leaders in Congress continue to make excuses for not holding even a single hearing on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. As I noted repeatedly, none of the four sitting senators who sought the Democratic presidential nomination — including Barack Obama — was willing to sponsor a companion bill to the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, which is itself languishing in the House.
ITEM: President Bush has threatened yet another veto of taxpayer subsidization for Amtrak. Back before the stem-cell veto (and long before the 2006 congressional elections), it was thought that Amtrak funding might be the first Bush veto of any bill. Alas, it was not to be.
ITEM: While not directly related to each other, the news that the entire Florida tomato crop may have to be left to rot due to the salmonella outbreak reminds me of this old story about a protectionist Florida tomato law that places looks over quality. Now suddenly quality matters more. Go figure. Another tomato-politics post here.
